John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I first want to go back to the statement made in this debate by Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn. I support entirely the statement and the comment in relation to the European Union and the need for a common-sense approach. I do so because I often follow the seafood sector, including John Shine, of Shine's Seafood, which distributes wild Irish tuna. I watch carefully the mapping Mr. Shine puts up on social media of the huge foreign vessels that come within Irish waters, or close to it, to fish to the detriment of our own fishing industry here. That situation needs to be looked at. Mr. Shine's company is an example of an Irish company that has built a great enterprise based on seafood and the distribution of seafood and products throughout the country. Deputy Mac Lochlainn is correct in what he had to say.

I am pro-European but for me I am afraid that the European Union has moved in a way that has gone away from the people. The bureaucracy created in the European Union is frightening. Over the past ten years it has become worse and worse. The examples of this are before us every day. With farming and agriculture, for example, I have never seen anything like the amount of paperwork and bureaucracy farmers have to fill out, particularly small family farms, to suit the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which in turn is suiting the European Union. I am aware records must be kept and I know there has to be transparency and accountability, but there also has to be common sense. In that regard, the EU has gone way too far and has not brought the farmers in this country with them. This is in spite of the fact the EU has been good to farmers with grants and so on.

The voices of elected representatives are not being heard in the European Union, and it is more of a bureaucracy and a friendship with the Civil Service here in Ireland that has allowed that train to get ahead of itself. We need to do something about that and 7 June is the first chance people will have. Forget the colour of the candidates or the jerseys they are wearing. I would say to the Irish people to vote for the person they believe will represent them best in Europe, the person who has the ability to represent and the ability to stand up, and who understands how Ireland needs to be protected and represented, and not elect nodding dogs who will just put through the bureaucratic decisions that are being made out there.

We have benefited in trade and commerce as we have an open market and I have seen this at first hand. I have seen how it benefited the sector I was involved in around transport. Companies here are punching way above their weight and getting into huge companies in Europe and beyond. They use the EU as a foothold to get into Asian markets and markets we would never have dreamed of participating in before.

Social enterprise has also been supported by Europe and the LEADER programme is a great example of the European Union at work in delivering at local level and serving communities. That really is what it is all about: serving communities and farming.

I do not know where the EU is going with the green agenda. They are certainly trying to stuff it down our necks here and we are doing more than enough as a small country to deal with that while at the same time ensuring enterprises, whether in trade and commerce or agriculture, are able to be kept afloat in the context of doing business in a common-sense way. Someone needs to have a look at the structure of the European Union in the context of the bureaucracy and the decisions being made that will affect all our lives. We discussed one such decision here last week with the politically exposed persons report that was carried out by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and Taoiseach. All of that bureaucracy is coming directly from the EU - every bit of it. Most of it was decided upon or steered through by that bureaucratic structure with a nod given to it by public representatives in the EU. I question the role of public representatives out there that they could not deliberately and consciously influence this regulation that is now being imposed on us. I accept there is a need to deal with the issues contained in the politically exposed persons regulations but there is no common sense to an awful lot of it. The consequences of this are wide-ranging with regard to local and national government and families. This is down to an overreach of bureaucracy. If, as the official said at the committee, everyone is going to be judged by that same standard, then I actually fear for the Irish people and for the freedom of people to do their business in the way they want to do it without being classified as criminals.

Reference was made to foreign policy. I must question this whole issue about Taiwan. I am chairman of the Taiwan-Ireland friendship group. The European Union has an office in Taipei. It is manned by those who want to promote Ireland abroad. There are 24 million people in Taipei, yet Ireland is not represented there. Ireland did have an office but it was closed during the crash in 2008. Germany, France, Italy and a lot of the bigger countries are not only represented there, they have their own offices there. They are trading with Taiwan and are not afraid to say they are trading with Taiwan. Yet here in Ireland one hears about the One China policy. While I observe the One China policy with "Fine, it is there", why should Ireland not stand up with its European partners, open an office in Taipei, and do what they should be doing for the Irish diaspora living there and for the businesses engaged in enterprise through Taiwan into China and on to Asia? There is no political courage in this country to shake off some of the shackles of the European Union and to do the business in an open and transparent way in line with our European partners. There should not be one rule for them and another rule for us. Since the election of the President of Taiwan and the Vice President I have not heard anyone in this House, including our Ministers or our Minister for Foreign Affairs, compliment that democracy on the achievement of electing its own public representatives and its own Government. I have heard nothing about assistance given to Taiwan after the earthquake there recently - nothing. Yet Taiwan gave a significant amount of equipment and personal protective equipment during Covid. It was spread around the country. I acknowledge this here and I acknowledge the very fine work that office is doing here in Ireland.

Migration is now the biggest issue of our day and boy have we made a mess of it. I blame the Minister and I blame the Cabinet. It was the messiest business I have ever seen conducted in this place. It has been done in total secrecy so none of us know what is happening really. We are told that many groups may be coming to different parts of the country but the local community does not know, the county councils do not know and the agencies do not know.

We are causing a huge divide in Irish society by not recognising that this Government was wrong and is now not trusted on the issue. There seems to be no end when it comes to finding a solution to the problems the Government has created. I ask that we pause, look at the structures that are in place, improve them and recognise those who are under pressure in Irish society through the movement of people. It is causing distress and trauma for many. I ask that this be investigated and that local communities would not be forced without consultation to carry a burden that is simply too much for them. Again, this goes back to political courage to do the right thing - protecting our sovereignty and the people we represent while at the same time, honouring to the extent we can our international obligations. It has gone too far. The discussion we had at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice did not mean anything. It was discussed. The only thing that committee can say to this Dáil is that it considered what was before it. I hope the Dáil debate on the issue of migration and the pact will be open, transparent and honest and will recognise that Irish people are willing to assist but they have had enough of not knowing and being kept in the dark.

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